Frivolous (But Amusing) Google Lawsuits Quickly Dismissed

from the sometimes-justice-is-quick dept

Last month we noted two of the more ridiculous lawsuits filed against Google recently. The first involved a handwritten lawsuit from a guy suing Google because through some bizarre process involving the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, you could flip the guy's social security number, mix it up and it would somehow spell Google (sorta). Then there was the immigration detainee who insisted that both Google and Yahoo illegally took their names from Tanzanian tribes. Of course, it wasn't true in either case, and even if they were using the names of Tanzanian tribes, that's not against the law. The fear in both these (and other similar cases) is that, while amusing, they would start to clog up the legal system. Eric Goldman, who emailed us both of these cases originally, checked back in to let us know the good news that both cases were quickly dismissed, with Denis Maringo, the Tanzanian filer, sanctioned $500 and barred from filing any more lawsuits until he pays up. Apparently justice can be quite quick when it involves insane cases.

That Guy

Re: That Guy

No, not the "I dare you to use my SSN to get a credit card" guy, though that guy is stupid since he's apparently never had someone use an SSN to get identification. But yeah, the guy is equally as stupid.